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BCG Treatment Phase 2

All right! I have survived another three BCG treatments! (That’s Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin, a weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis, an intravesical therapy, which means “within the urinary bladder,” a type of immunotherapy.) During the last of these three treatments, I allowed a Medical Student training for a Urology degree to insert the catheter. This is a teaching hospital, by the way. They have to learn sometime with someone—under proper supervision, of course. (PA 2 was overseeing everything.)

Anyway, after Surgeon pulled the weed (new tumor growth) during the last cystoscopy, he reminded me that this would be part of my life for the next two years or so. This is fine. An examination via cystoscopy, followed by three catheterized BCG treatments each time a tumor erupts, is not difficult to live with. Inconvenient, of course, but not bad.

It is better than possibly loosing my bladder, which would lead to all sorts of vexatious circumstances, not to mention, allowing the tumor cells the chance to spread elsewhere in my body, causing other problems that demand treatment by chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery.

Yeah, not bad at all. A quarterly look-n-see followed by three weed-feeds is definitely something I can live with. After all, I want to keep my “garden” rich and healthy.

In case you did not know, I am a Christian. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I expect to arrive in heaven once I die—I’m just not ready to go there yet if I can help it. I feel I have more to do here. What that “to do” is, I don’t know. Life is still a day-to-day learning experience.

Perhaps one of the things I’m supposed to do, besides spoiling my grandkids, is to tell others about my experience with bladder cancer and this form of treatment—hence, this blog. I hope it has been enlightening, maybe even entertaining. However, for the most part, I wanted the blog to be educational—even though it is a one-sided discussion of this scary issue. Really, that is the purpose of this blog. To explain what happened to me, as honest as I can, so that someone else can have a guide as to what to expect.

I hope your experience will be similar and just as positive as mine—even though I still have another year and three-quarters to go. If anything unexpected develops, I’ll be sure to include it in this blog.